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Friday, February 8, 2013

Police refusal to secure Egyptian matches spotlights rift with military

A refusal by Egyptian security forces to police soccer
matches spotlights differences between the interior and defense ministries at a
time that President Mohammed Morsi is under mounting pressure to reform the country’s
law enforcement institutions, widely despised for their role as the enforcers
of the repression of toppled president Hosni Mubarak’s regime and continued
violations of human rights.

The rejection contrasts starkly with the military’s authorization
last month of the restart of the Premier League that had been suspended for a
year in the wake of the death of 74 soccer fans in a politically loaded soccer
brawl. The military endorsed the resumption against the will of the interior
ministry provided matches were played initially in military stadiums without
spectators.

The importance of reform of law enforcement is highlighted
by the fact that Mr. Mubarak like most Arab autocrats ran a police rather than
a military state. The interior ministry’s police and security forces are with
1.25 million men more than twice the size of the military. Widely viewed as
corrupt and brutal, they were responsible for domestic spying and surveillance,
repression of expressions of discontent and the stealing of elections.

Moreover, the impact of the interior ministry’s continued
opposition to the reinstitution of soccer has not only a political but also an
economic impact at a time that Egypt’s economy is in decline. A study by Assiut
University’s Gamal Mohammed Ali established that some four million Egyptians
make their living directly or indirectly from soccer. Mr. Ali estimated that
the one year suspension had cost clubs $178 million.

Crowned Cairo clubs Al Zamalek SC and Al Ahli SC had
requested police security for two upcoming Confederation of African Football
(CAF) Championship League matches. Zamalek made its request after securing
military’s cost permission to play Gazelle FC of Chad on February 17 in the
Mediterranean port city of Alexandria’s Borg El-Arab Stadium, Africa’s third
largest facility designed and built by the Egyptian Armed Forces Corps of
Engineers (EAFCE), with fans present. Al Ahli is scheduled to play its next CAF
match in March.

Mr. Morsi’s failure to initiate the difficult process of
reform of Mubarak era institutions, foremost among which law enforcement and
the judiciary, is at the core of mass protests in the past month that have cost
the life of more than 60 people. The president last month declared emergency
rule in Port Said and two other Suez Canal and Red Sea cities, Suez and
Ismailia, and ordered the military to enforce law and order after a Cairo court
sentenced to death 21 of 73 defendants accused of responsibility for the Port
Said brawl.

Mr. Morsi was elected as the candidate of the Freedom and
Justic Party (FJP) established by the Muslim Brotherhood whose platform
identified reform of the police and security forces as one of its key issues.
The president initially seemed committed to the platform by replacing a number
of senior police chiefs and intelligence officials, including Cairo Security
Directorate chief Mohsen Murad and Central Security Forces (CSF) commander Emad
al-Wakil, who were known for their opposition to Egypt’s transition.

Yet, Mr. Morsi weakened rather than strengthened his grip on
the security sector by endorsing amendments to the police law that removed the
president as head of the Supreme Council of the Police and further improved the
administration of salaries and pensions in a bid to thwart discontent within
the forces. His removal of pro-Mubarak commanders was counterbalanced by his
appointment of General Khaled Tharwat as head of the recently established
National Security Apparatus (NSA). Gen. Tharwat was in charge of the security forces’
domestic spying and surveillance as well as a unit dedicated to countering the
Brotherhood under Mr. Mubarak.

To be fair discontent within the security forces reflects a
sense within their ranks that police and security forces despite their
brutality are as much a victim of the Mubarak regime as are others. Sources
close to the security forces describe an institution that feels defeated and
humiliated by public animosity and repeated verbal and physical attacks much
like the Egyptian military defeat after its virtual 1967 destruction in the Six
Day War against Israel.

“Many (officers) are in need of psychological rehabilitation. The
revolution broke some of them, while others became more brutal and violent....
Both situations are equally bad,” said former Public Security major Tamer
Makki, who is a member of the upper house of parliament in an interview with
Omar Ashour, a nonresident fellow at the Brookings Doha Center, Director of the
University of Exeter’s Middle East Graduate Studies Program, and the author of
a recent report on the Egyptian security sector.

Law enforcement is set to again become a flashpoint on March 9 when the
court rules in the case of the remaining 52 accused, who include nine mid-level
security officials. The sentencing of the 21, all supporters of Port Said’s Al
Masri SC, sparked the violent protests in part because security officials were
not included in the first batch of verdicts. The court’s delay of the
sentencing of security officials fuelled public anger at the fact that no
official has to date been held accountable for the death of more than 800
protesters since the initial mass demonstrations that forced Mr. Mubarak to
resign after 30 years in office.

The pressure for reform of the police and security forces
was further fuelled by the leaking of the summary of the prosecutor’s case in
the trial that charged that the police were as culpable as Al Masri fans and executives
in the lethal Port Said brawl. The leak coincided with a human rights report
that concluded that concluded that “the Egyptian police continue to
systematically deploy violence and torture, and at times even kill. Although
the January (2011) revolution (against Mr. Mubarak) was sparked in large part
by police practices and vocally demanded an end to these practices,
accountability for all offenders and the establishment of permanent instruments
to prevent their recurrence, two years after the revolution the situation
remains unchanged.”

At a recent meeting with human rights activists, Justice
Minister Ahmed Mekki denied the allegations and insisted that it was the
interior ministry’s internal responsibility to reform its forces. One
participant said on Twitter after the meeting that Mr. Mekki’s remarks were “far
worse’ than anything he had from Mr. Mubarak’s justice minister.

Amid political volatility and a growing belief among Egypt’s
youth and militant soccer fan groups, one of the country’s largest civic
groupings after the Muslim Brotherhood, that it will take street rather than
electoral politics to ensure real post-revolt change, reform of the security sector
could emerge as Mr. Morsi’s make-or-break litmus test.

The president is caught in a Catch-22. Street protests and
repeated attacks on his presidential palace coupled with the emergence of
vigilante groups associated with various political trends makes him more
dependent on the security sector – the very force that constitutes his Achilles
heel.

Says Mr. Ashour in his report: “Ultimately, no democratic transition is
complete without targeting abuse, eradicating torture, and ending the impunity
of the security services, with effective and meaningful civilian control of
both the armedforces and the security establishment. This will bethe true test
of both Morsi’s presidency and Egypt’s democratic transition.”

James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of
International Studies, co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute
for Fan Culture, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East
Soccer blog.

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About Me

James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile